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If you’re in sales, you’ve probably heard of Pipedrive. It’s one of those CRMs that gets recommended a lot, especially for small to mid-sized teams who want something straightforward and visual. But is it the right fit for your business?

In this review, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Pipedrive: what it does well, where it falls short, how much it costs, and whether it aligns with your sales process. We’ll also talk about how tools like La Growth Machine can complement Pipedrive to fill gaps in your outreach strategy.

What is Pipedrive?

Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM platform built around pipeline management. Founded in 2010 by salespeople who were frustrated with existing CRM tools, it uses a visual pipeline that makes tracking deals intuitive and actionable.

The platform helps sales teams manage their deals, contacts, and activities in one place. It’s not trying to be an all-in-one marketing and sales suite like HubSpot or Salesforce. Instead, it focuses on one thing: helping you visualize and manage your sales pipeline.

Pipedrive works across multiple channels including email, phone, and integrates with over 500 apps. It’s popular with small businesses, startups, and sales teams that want something they can set up quickly without extensive training.

Target audience: Small to mid-sized businesses (2-200 employees), sales teams, agencies, and consultants who prioritize deal tracking and activity-based selling.

Pipedrive key features

Pipedrive keeps things focused on what sales teams actually need day-to-day. Here’s what stands out.

Visual pipeline management

This is Pipedrive’s signature feature and what most users love about it. The visual pipeline lets you see all your deals laid out in columns representing different stages of your sales process.

You can drag and drop deals between stages, which gives you an instant view of where everything stands. It helps sales reps prioritize which deals need attention and which are close to closing.

You can create multiple pipelines for different products, services, or sales processes. Each pipeline is fully customizable, so you can define your own stages, add custom fields, and set probability percentages for forecasting.

Real-world application: If you’re juggling 50 deals at various stages, the visual layout makes it immediately clear which ones are stuck, which need follow-up, and which are about to close.

Activity-based selling and task automation

Pipedrive is built around activity-based selling, which means it focuses on actions rather than just outcomes.

The platform prompts you to schedule activities (calls, emails, meetings) for each deal and shows you what needs to happen next. You can set up automations that trigger specific actions when deals move between stages, like sending follow-up emails or creating new tasks.

For example, when a deal reaches “negotiation” stage, Pipedrive can automatically assign a task to your sales manager for approval or send a templated email to the prospect.

One standout capability: Pipedrive’s “Smart Docs” add-on lets you create, track, and manage proposals and contracts directly in the CRM, with built-in e-signatures on higher-tier plans.

Limitation: While the automation is helpful, it’s not as robust as what you’d find in platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce. You can’t build complex, multi-step workflows without integrating third-party tools.

Email integration and tracking

Pipedrive syncs with Gmail, Outlook, and custom email providers, bringing all your email communication into one place.

You can send emails directly from Pipedrive, and they’re automatically logged against the relevant contact or deal. Email tracking shows you when prospects open your emails and click on links, so you know when to follow up.

The platform also supports bulk email campaigns and email templates, which helps with consistency and saves time on repetitive outreach.

How it works: Once you connect your email account, all sent and received emails are linked to contacts and deals automatically. You’ll see the full conversation history without switching between your CRM and inbox.

Notable limitation: Pipedrive’s native email functionality is fairly basic. If you want advanced email marketing features like detailed segmentation, A/B testing at scale, or sophisticated nurture sequences, you’ll need to use their Campaigns add-on or integrate with a dedicated email tool.

Reporting and insights

Pipedrive offers customizable dashboards and reports that give you visibility into sales performance, deal progress, and team activity.

You can track metrics like conversion rates by stage, average deal size, sales cycle length, and revenue forecasts. Reports are visual and easy to understand, which makes them useful for quick check-ins and team meetings.

The platform also has AI-powered report creation where you can generate reports using text prompts, which speeds up the process.

Real-world use: Sales managers can quickly see which reps are hitting their targets, where deals are getting stuck, and whether the team is on track to meet monthly goals.

Limitation: While reporting is solid for basic to intermediate needs, power users who want deep analytics or complex custom reports might find it restrictive compared to enterprise CRMs.

Integrations

Pipedrive’s Marketplace offers over 500 integrations, including popular tools like Zapier, Slack, Zoom, QuickBooks, PandaDoc, and Google Meet.

Key CRM integrations: The platform connects natively with HubSpot (for marketing automation), Mailchimp (for email marketing), and various accounting tools.

Sales and communication integrations: You can connect call tracking tools like JustCall and Aircall, document management with PandaDoc and Smart Docs, and video conferencing with Zoom and Google Meet.

Notable integration: Pipedrive integrates natively with La Growth Machine, which means you can sync your multichannel prospecting campaigns directly with your CRM for seamless lead management.

Integration limitation: While the marketplace is extensive, some users report that certain integrations require manual setup or don’t sync as smoothly as native features.

Pipedrive pricing

Pipedrive offers four main pricing tiers, all billed per user. Prices are lower when billed annually.

Lite Plan: $14/user/month (annual billing)

  • Lead, calendar, and pipeline management
  • AI-powered report creation
  • Real-time sales feed
  • 500+ integrations
  • Personalized onboarding

This is the entry-level plan, good for solo entrepreneurs or very small teams who need basic CRM functionality. Note that full email sync isn’t included in this tier.

Growth Plan: $39/user/month (annual billing)

  • Everything in Lite, plus:
  • Full email sync with tracking
  • Automations and email sequences
  • Subscription and forecast reports
  • Meeting scheduler and contacts timeline
  • Live chat support

This is where Pipedrive starts to become useful for growing teams. The automation and email tracking features make a real difference in efficiency.

Premium Plan: $59/user/month (annual billing) – Most Popular

  • Everything in Growth, plus:
  • Lead generation and routing
  • Custom scoring and company data enrichment
  • AI-powered email tools
  • Contracts and e-signatures
  • Enhanced customization for teams and reports

This tier is designed for teams that need more advanced features like lead scoring, data enrichment, and built-in contract management.

Ultimate Plan: $79/user/month (annual billing)

  • Everything in Premium, plus:
  • Fortified account security with rules and alerts
  • Phone and email data enrichment
  • Sandbox testing account
  • Extended phone support
  • Partnership discounts (20% off PandaDoc, CloudTalk, Surfe)

This is the most comprehensive plan, best suited for larger teams or businesses with strict security requirements.

Add-ons (charged per company, not per user):

  • LeadBooster (lead generation tools): Starting at $32.50/month
  • Campaigns (email marketing): Starting at $13.33/month
  • Projects (project management): Starting at $6.67/month
  • Web Visitors: Starting at $41/month
  • Smart Docs: Starting at $32.50/month

Free trial: 14 days, no credit card required.

Value assessment: Pipedrive’s pricing is competitive for small to mid-sized teams. It’s more affordable than Salesforce and comparable to Close or Freshsales. However, costs can add up quickly when you factor in multiple users and necessary add-ons.

Pipedrive pros and cons

User Ratings:

  • G2: 4.2/5 (based on 1,594 reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.5/5 (based on 3,040 reviews)

Pros ✅

Visual pipeline that helps you sell The drag-and-drop pipeline interface isn’t just pretty. It helps sales reps see what needs attention and prioritize their day. Users consistently praise how intuitive it is.

Quick setup and easy onboarding Unlike enterprise CRMs that require weeks of setup, most teams get Pipedrive running in a few days. The learning curve is minimal, which means faster adoption across your team.

Activity-based selling keeps you focused The emphasis on scheduling next steps and completing activities helps prevent deals from falling through the cracks. Sales reps always know what they should be doing next.

Strong email integration and tracking Email sync works smoothly with Gmail and Outlook. The ability to track opens and clicks gives you actionable intel on when to follow up.

Extensive integration ecosystem With 500+ integrations, you can connect Pipedrive to most of your existing tools without much hassle.

Cons ❌

Limited automation compared to competitors While Pipedrive has automation features, they’re fairly basic. If you need complex, multi-step workflows or advanced marketing automation, you’ll hit the ceiling quickly.

Email functionality could be stronger The native email features are decent but not great. For anything beyond basic emailing, you’ll need the Campaigns add-on or a third-party tool.

Reporting lacks depth for power users The reports are solid for most teams, but if you need advanced analytics or heavily customized reporting, you might find Pipedrive limiting.

No multichannel prospecting Pipedrive doesn’t handle multichannel outreach (LinkedIn, email, phone, X) natively. It’s a relationship management tool, not a prospecting engine.

Costs increase with add-ons The base price looks reasonable, but when you add essential features like LeadBooster or Campaigns, the total cost per user rises significantly.

Have you thought about multichannel prospecting?

Pipedrive is excellent at managing relationships and tracking deals once they’re in your pipeline. But here’s what it doesn’t do: help you fill that pipeline with qualified leads in the first place.

That’s where tools like La Growth Machine come in.

Why multichannel matters

Most CRMs, including Pipedrive, focus on managing relationships, not creating them. They’re built to track deals, activities, and communications, but they don’t automate the top-of-funnel prospecting that generates those opportunities.

Modern buyers aren’t just on email anymore. They’re active on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and across multiple channels. If you’re only reaching out via email, you’re missing a huge chunk of potential conversations.

How La Growth Machine complements Pipedrive

La Growth Machine is a multichannel prospecting automation platform that integrates natively with Pipedrive. Here’s how they work together:

Generate leads, then manage them Use La Growth Machine to run automated prospecting campaigns across LinkedIn, email, calls, and X. When prospects engage and respond, they’re automatically synced to Pipedrive where you can manage the relationship through to close.

Different stages, different tools La Growth Machine handles top-of-funnel outreach and lead generation. Pipedrive takes over once prospects engage and enter your sales pipeline. Together, they create a complete system.

Multichannel sequences that get responses With La Growth Machine, you can build campaigns that combine LinkedIn connection requests, personalized messages, voice messages, emails, and call reminders. This multichannel approach drives up to 3.5x more replies than email-only outreach.

Lead enrichment built in La Growth Machine automatically enriches your leads with verified email addresses and contact data using 9 providers. That means every lead that lands in Pipedrive comes with complete, accurate information.

Native sync keeps everything connected All your La Growth Machine activity automatically flows into Pipedrive. You’ll see the full history of interactions (emails sent and received, LinkedIn messages, call notes) right in your CRM, so nothing gets lost.

Real-world workflow:

  1. Import a list of target leads into La Growth Machine
  2. Run a multichannel sequence (LinkedIn + Email + Voice Message)
  3. When prospects reply, they’re automatically marked as opportunities in Pipedrive
  4. Your sales team picks up the conversation in Pipedrive and moves them through the pipeline

This combination means you’re not just managing deals better. You’re creating more deals to manage in the first place.

If you’re serious about filling your pipeline, pairing Pipedrive with a tool like La Growth Machine gives you both sides of the equation: effective prospecting and organized deal management.

Conclusion

Pipedrive is a solid, sales-focused CRM that excels at pipeline visualization and activity-based selling. It’s intuitive, affordable, and gets out of your way so you can actually sell.

It’s best suited for small to mid-sized sales teams who want a straightforward CRM without the complexity of enterprise platforms. If your priority is tracking deals, managing activities, and keeping everything organized, Pipedrive delivers.

That said, it has its limitations. The automation isn’t as powerful as HubSpot or Salesforce, the email features are basic unless you pay for add-ons, and it doesn’t handle multichannel prospecting natively.

If you’re looking to not just manage your pipeline but actively fill it with qualified leads, you’ll want to combine Pipedrive with a prospecting tool like La Growth Machine. The native integration means you get the best of both worlds: automated multichannel outreach to generate conversations, and a clean, visual CRM to manage those relationships through to close.

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